A little over a year ago I had a negative experience in returning a Alfa Models plane that was extremely beat up in transit. This was shortly after Hobby-Lobby's transition and it seems in retrospect that some of their policies hadn't been refined. I was asked to ship the plane back at my own expense and wait for their judgement, all the while feeling like I was being accused of lying about the damage...they did replace the plane after several weeks but I had to ask them to refund my credit card for the expenses I incurred for the return shipping.

THAT has changed!

I gathereed that they had been making improvements...and I had a couple of flawless orders with Hobby-Lobby in recent months but until now I hadn't had to deal with the return process.

Sooo, last week, I ordered up the Freewing F-35 VT jet on the recent crash sale- which based on the demo from the NEAT Fair last year, is a honey of a jet at a very good price of $199.

Unfortunately, as the title implies, the CRASH Sale turned out to be a literal description of the plane!

The box arrived at my door step yesterday with a section resembling an accordian and a rupture in both the outer and inner boxes. I could stick my finger in and touch the plane! Needless to say, the plane was damaged. one wing was bent and creased...but fixable... but the fuselage was bent down about 10*, creases along the bottom, a crack at the top and the intakes were mashed in... so this one is a loss.

Yeah, it could be made flyable but it would be ugly and I prefer to crash my planes myself!

So I snapped some pics, braced myself and dialed the customer service number.. they answered right away... the woman I spoke with was friendly and professional, and the issue was more or less resolved within five minutes and they believed me without even seeing the pictures...which was extremely refreshing. It appears that UPS will pick up the package (and they will reimburse Hobby-Lobby), and the replacement order was placed immediately. Very smooth.

Unfortunately, the F-35 is out of stock...so I'll have to wait a few weeks (and I won't get to fly it at my club meeting next week!) but that's the risk of jumping on a hot sale item, I guess!

Anyway-I just wanted to send out a big thank you to Hobby-Lobby.
I would once again enthusiastically reccommend you guys without any caveats about the return procedure.